He’s the one
from "Warm Hugs for Dark Nights" Book
I hung up the phone and sat back in my chair. “Well,” I thought to myself, “He’s definitely
the one”. I always get a chill when I actually see God in action. He had made it incredibly clear by his orchestration
that this was the song artist I had been seeking. Nope, he wasn’t my first choice. I knew
which group I wanted to use and somehow I just knew God was going to open the doors wide open and they would just fall all
over themselves to have the honor of their CD in my gift boxes. I mean, their songs had spoken to me so
many times during those long hours on I-40 and while I was mentally creating Warm Hugs, not to mention
helping me with my own battles. However after a few emails were not responded to I got discouraged and began surfing the internet
for other possibilities. I still thought God would bring them around sometime
in the future.
Mid November I
was searching through music on myspace. When I found someone I liked, I added them as a friend. On November
26th, 2008,
the day before my birthday, Jayc Harold agreed to add me as a friend. Throughout the next several months I played and searched
music online and still toyed with the dilemma of the CD choice. I knew the songs would have to speak to those hurting. I prayed
asking for His guidance although I still thought deep down this other group would eventually surface as “God’s”
choice. Funny, unconsiously I found myself repeatly returning to listen to Jayc Harold's songs. Something about the mixture of his music and his smooth voice kept me returning just when I needed a pleasant
pick me up and the words of
the songs hit home.
I remember
that day in March (22nd of 09') like it was yesterday. I was raking wet leaves that I didn’t get raked and burned last
fall. It was not a pleasant task. The Day was a beautiful day but my heart was heavy. I was extremely
frustrated. I was as a standstill. I had to have a CD of songs before I could take the next step of my WH4DNs project. I
was deep in prayer as I raked. I’d decided to send out some emails to a few music artists to see if any would be interested.
I’d received no responses as yet and so I poured my heart out to God with every swipe of the yard broom. I finally said,
“Ok God, this is your project, I’m just your gloves. You want it to sit here,
fine! But there are hurting people out there now. Who do you want Lord?”
Exhausted
with the raking and the praying I sat down in the lawn chair and pulled out my blackberry phone to check calls, emails
and texts while I rested. My pounding heart stopped dead as I read the email; “I’d gladly help with your ministry,
thanks. God Bless, Jayc”.
Over the next several weeks
our attempts to get together to discuss adding his CD to my gift boxes underwent a battery of scheduling conflicts. I don’t
think humans come any harder headed than me. Just when it seemed like we were actually going to get together… an approaching
thunderstorm sent me out to get some wood in for the fireplace. As I was about to dump an armload full in the wood bin next
to the fireplace, lightening hit somewhere close, I jumped, wood went up and into my eyeball. Urgent care and multiple visits
to the optometrist prevented us once again from meeting due to my “severe injury to my cornea”. As I rested my
eyes recovering from my injury the accident seemed to be so “out of the blue”, so freakish. It left me wondering
if it was Satan throwing a fit and just shoved the wood stick into my eye or was it God delaying due to having someone else
in mind. Guess with the scheduling conflicts, my faith wavered. Was God going to actually allow this project to move forward?
Yeah, yeah, I remembered the timing of the email while I was raking leaves and praying but… Guess I just had a bit
of doubting Thomas in me.
I have found that it is during these important moments
that we must stop all the deciding and allow God to guide. I was beginning to feel like a puppy on a leash, pulling in one
direction and God guiding in another. Sometimes we pull so hard that we break loose and run off in the direction we
want and then get lost in the woods. Finally I said “Ok, God, it’s your project, you obviously have
something in mind. I’ll stop pulling and start yielding.”
The
day finally came to meet Jayc and his family early in May. I’ve found traveling across the state one makes use of the
trip for transporting a multitude of unique items. This trip was none the less dull. My brother raises
goats in West TN. I had a friend who wanted a baby goat in East TN. Yes, I became the “Goat courier”.
Talk about first impressions! Jayc’s children will probably always call me “the Goat Lady”.
You have to admit, a Goat in a Mustang GT is not a sight one sees everyday!
Besides
being overly anxious about the baby goat in my car, meeting Jayc Harold sent my nerves into a fit of jitters. Here was this
professional song artist taking time out to meet me to discuss the ministry of his song CD and my gift boxes.
When uneasy I tend to repeat myself. Bless his heart he graciously took it in stride. He, along with his little girl, Robyn
greeted me with hugh smiles at the outlet mall food court. Later his wife Karis joined us after she finished a little shopping.
The meeting went well.
Ice broken, personalities began to blossom. Jayc and his family were a true inspiration to be around. Their earnestness of
serving the Lord with all their hearts was obviously their focus. In order for this CD to meet its full encouraging potential
I felt Jayc’s personal story of hardship needed to be shared with those receiving my gift boxes. I asked Jayc what would
be his desire for people to get out of his story. He had no hesitation when he said, “I
want them to see I’m nothing special. I’m just an average guy trying to reach the potential God expects from me.
It’s not me that people need to seek, it’s God. God is the only one that can ‘fix’ me and he’s
the only one that can fix them.” I now knew why God had chosen Jayc for this project. I realized that had he been
my first choice I could not have seen God hand in orchestrating it all. I was just blown away at the man God had picked.
We left our little Meet-&-Greet that day as new friends with intentions
of Jayc sharing his chronicle with me when we both had more time. A couple of weeks later a phone interview revealed the marvel
behind the man; Jayc Harold. What I thought was Jayc’s story turned out to only be the beginning.
